The dead I know

I read this book in fits and starts - a couple pages a day for about a month. I could have torn through it in a day or two at my regular reading pace, like a starving person inhales a meal, but, in my opinion, it wouldn't have been as enjoyable.

I had time to sit with the characters - their lives so real they seemed to jump out from the pages. I had time to wrestle with the story - the nightmares, the sleepwalking, the constant brush with death, the thin line between reality and fiction.

Scot Gardener did a wonderful job of sketching the characters, anchoring them within the story, and filling in the empty spaces. Every page I turned I learned a bit more about them and, at the same time, I wanted more. I wanted to live in this world. Nothing was tied up in a neat little package and I love it for that.

Scot Gardener took a slice of real life, with all of its ups and downs, good intentions, well wishes, awkward fumbling, slightly off centre outcomes, and served it to us in the most wonderful way possible.